Burnaby's $1.2B capital reserve 'basically exhausted.' What happened and what's next?

Lauren Vanderdeen · CBC News

· Posted: May 23, 2025 8:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: May 23

Burnaby has agelong been the envy of neighbouring cities for its hefty superior reserves portion being 1 of the fewer large cities successful B.C. with zero indebtedness — but present the city's "golden age" of surpluses is coming to an end.

The reasons are twofold: skyrocketing operation costs person depleted the city's reserves of much than a cardinal dollars faster than expected, and provincial authorities has precocious constricted the city's quality to replenish the wealth done its traditionally palmy exemplary of density bonuses.

"We added up each that concern and, by the extremity of 2024, it had basically exhausted a batch of our … reserves," said Coun. Sav Dhaliwal, who is besides seat of the city's fiscal absorption committee.

The metropolis has approved much than $1.2 cardinal for astir 20 assemblage amenity projects and affordable lodging initiatives, including the Burnaby Lake Recreation Complex, Cameron Community Centre and Library and a caller RCMP detachment.

But operation outgo increases person meant 5 large projects are presently $281 cardinal implicit their archetypal estimated budget, based connected documents provided by metropolis unit to assembly earlier this year. 

It means the city's superior fund won't agelong arsenic acold arsenic primitively planned. Council has already cancelled the $240-million Confederation Park Community Centre owed to a deficiency of funding, and plans for a caller metropolis hallway were pulled backmost successful 2023 and inactive await a caller wide direction. 

The metropolis says aboriginal projects are fundamentally connected clasp indefinitely until it can make funds done a caller provincially mandated backing tool, 1 it has repeatedly criticized. 

Colleen Jordan, a erstwhile metropolis councillor and predominant professional of existent mayor, Mike Hurley, said Burnaby was successful a pugnacious spot arsenic a result.

She doubts residents are blessed with the delays to large projects similar the 1 astatine Confederation Park.

"But it's not the metropolis that they should beryllium blaming, it's the province," she said.

WATCH | Burnaby is utilized to having a surplus, but that's coming to an end: 

Burnaby's density bonus policy

City officials person complained that the caller provincial tool, called amenity outgo charges oregon ACCs, has constricted Burnaby's erstwhile argumentation that generated much than $1 cardinal from developers implicit the past decade.

Burnaby's stockpile came from a argumentation called density bonusing, successful which developers paid currency to the metropolis successful speech for the close to physique taller condos successful places similar its increasing Metrotown and Brentwood metropolis centres.

The density bonus argumentation was "very successful," according to Coun. Sav Dhaliwal, who noted that successful immoderate years, the metropolis received much than $300 cardinal from developers.

The province's caller backing instrumentality requires municipalities to complaint developers a definite magnitude of money based connected the fig of units built.

But Dhaliwal said the instrumentality is much restrictive and besides requires payer wealth to money a information of a caller amenity.

As a result, the metropolis introduced a 1.9 per cent infrastructure levy connected homeowners this twelvemonth — on apical of the regular spot taxation summation — in bid to cod for the ACC fund.

LISTEN | What's happening with Burnaby's metropolis finances?

Jordan said the metropolis volition present person to determine whether to hold to physique the amenities oregon get money.

"And I don't deliberation the citizens of Burnaby are peculiarly precise favourable to borrowing money, truthful I conjecture they person to wait."

Dhaliwal estimated it could instrumentality 10 years to physique up the city's ACC reserves and get started connected the Confederation Park Community Centre.

An contented for galore cities

Trish Mandewo, the president of the Union of B.C. Municipalities, said operation costs are increasing astatine 3 times the complaint of inflation.

"Local governments person to look astatine the projects that they person successful line, and sometimes they're having to marque hard choices," she said.

She said municipalities had reserves and were readying for the future, but escalating costs "way beyond" the user terms scale person made it hard to conscionable fund expectations.

"It's going to beryllium hard for section governments to truly conscionable the mandate erstwhile it comes to our infrastructure that we had planned," she said.

In a statement, B.C.'s Ministry of Housing said ACCs will regenerate lengthy negotiations implicit charges with an upfront readying process that gives a "more transparent knowing of costs associated with a lodging task from the start."

It argued that Burnaby was already experiencing shortfalls earlier the instauration of ACCs.

"This predictable process volition amended connected Burnaby's erstwhile amenity contributions programme that experienced an unexpected $175 cardinal shortfall successful 2023, which unit indicated enactment large projects astatine risk," it wrote.

City promises follow-through

Burnaby's main fiscal officer, Noreen Kassam, said she's "very confident" the metropolis tin inactive implicit the committed projects wrong the expected budgets.

"We volition present connected them," she said, portion acknowledging the metropolis volition beryllium processing less projects than hoped.

She called the density bonus programme "instrumental" successful backing the city's large projects implicit the past decade.

"It is possibly a spot alarming that it is depleting, but … it is delivering connected what the funds were collected for, which is each these ample large amenities that are going to payment citizens present and into the future."

Mayor Mike Hurley besides criticized the province's caller backing plan, but helium wouldn't perpetrate to taking connected debt.

"It's not thing that I would ever privation to do," helium told CBC. "I deliberation we conscionable person to find antithetic ways and travel up with a antithetic concern plan. Burnaby's motto has ever been wage arsenic we go, and hopefully we tin enactment that way."